21 Flights in 12 Days – How I Manage

That’s how many individual flights I took over the last couple weeks. From Baltimore MD, Chicago IL, Flagstaff AZ, Alpine TX, Lyndonville VT, Melbourne FL, to Bloomington & Mattoon IL with a few dates in Ohio sprinkled in, this has been a whirlwind tour so far. 21 total flights in just 12 days of traveling.

Despite the fact that I spend over 200 days a year on the road, I’ve been coping pretty well. On some days, I have extreme travel adversity – like last month when I had 4 cancelled flights, 3 delays and a closed airport and STILL made it to the show on time (barely). I felt like I was in a scene in one of my favorite movies, Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Here are some things I do to keep myself sane while traveling.

Routines. I have strict routines that I follow when I travel. I could probably fill a book of tips and tricks that I use to make the airport and hotel more of an enjoyable and stress free experience. For instance – the first thing I do when I arrive in the hotel is unplug the alarm clock. It sucks for the housekeeper who has to plug it back in and set it again when I leave, but it keeps me from worrying about wrong times, wrong alarms, etc. My iphone is the sole time clock that I use for everything, because I know it’s always right. I never change the clocks on my computer/watch/etc. – I only use my phone for accurate time.

TripIt. Tripit.com is a website for organizing your travel details. You simply forward the confirmation email and it sorts it out for you. I can access this from any web browser or via the app on my phone and get details about flights, hotels, rental cars and directions whenever I need them. I highly recommend it to anyone who travels a lot. It’s a very recent discovery for me. After a few months of using it, I have no idea how I ever went without it.

Water & Vitamins. I drink one bottle of water for every flight. So if I have a connection somewhere, I’ve had two bottles of water by the time that I get to my destination. This is important when flying because the air that is cycled through the cabin is void of any moisture, which dries out your sinuses, leading to an increased chance of getting sinus infections and head colds. Keeping your nose and sinuses hydrated is huge. Also, I’m a big fan of B6, B12 and C supplements. I use the powder called “Emergen-C” that you can buy at just about any market. And wash your hands.

Staying Connected. Some call it a burden, but I am constantly staying connected with friends, family and fans through social media as I’m traveling. It keeps my mind occupied and my brain going during down time and lessens the feeling of being away from home.

Be friendly. At 5am, I don’t feel like being friendly to the TSA. I find them to be invasive and sometimes power hungry. But I think of my body as having a finite amount of energy for each day. Every worry, every complaint, every conflict, every time I have to figure something out or solve a problem – those all deplete my finite amount of energy. So I simply pick my battles. When the guy in front of me is taking a really long time to use the kiosk at the airport, or when the redneck in front of me in the TSA checkpoint line forgets that he has a Buck hunting knife and shotgun shells stowed away in his boot, I try to always remember to pick my battles. It’s my choice – It’s up to me to decide what I’m going to waste energy on and what I’m going to let breeze by. Using this philosophy, I’ve found my travel days are MUCH less stressful.

Like I said, I could probably write a book about traveling. These are just some of the tips that came to mind as I was writing this post? What are your travel tips? I’d love to hear them! Share your travel tip in the comments below!

So here’s an example:
You’re performing at a college in the middle of Podunkville, USA (I went to school there). You have a medical emergency arise. You get transported via ambulance to the local medical clinic. The staff assesses you and concludes they don’t have the appropriate equipment to handle the situation.

They call for an aerial (or even ground) evacuation, 90 miles to the nearest real hospital.

Not all health insurance will cover the secondary transportation.

DAN Travel Assist does.

It’s cheap. Part of the basic membership (not an additional insurance add on).

Check it out. I always have it for my travels primarily because I’m a SCUBA diver. But I like know I have it when I’m on the road performing as well.